Kenny Dalglish must arrange public apology from Luis Suarez to Patrice Evra

Tuesday 17 January 2012 11:54 BST

Rightly revered but in the wrong: Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish

The dunderhead fringe of Liverpool's support don't half like an apology. They seemed to want Roy Hodgson to apologise for not being Kenny Dalglish and, when observers requested a fair chance for Hodgson, demanded we recant or face the wrath of the believers.

Yet, while only too keen to take, they appear oddly reluctant to give, certainly in the case of the wronged Patrice Evra, whom a Football Association commission found to have been subjected to a racially objectionable word by Luis Suarez during the League match against Manchester United at Anfield.

An eight-match ban reflected scorn for a flimsy - if sincere - defence based on "cultural differences" between Uruguay and England. But the attitude of the mob was unswerving. It becomes more depressingly understandable, however, as the days pass without contrition from the club's leadership, for which Ian Ayre should not be mistaken; the chief executive's admission of "damage" almost implied that Liverpool were the victims. Even the American owners emit deafening silence. For no one may gainsay King Kenny.

Dalglish is rightly revered for not only his footballing exploits but his personal qualities after Hillsborough. But he is, like the rest of us, fallible and that he has got this so wrong was obvious when he joined the players in their display of T-shirted solidarity with Suarez at Wigan.

A more mature posture is now necessary. There are only 11 days before United return to Anfield in the FA Cup and football as a whole is in danger of suffering, for there is speculation that Sir Alex Ferguson will drop his captain amid fear that an acrid atmosphere might take a more sinister turn.

A public apology from Suarez to Evra would change everything. Only Dalglish can arrange this triumph of decency over tribalism and he should do so now. You'll Never Walk Alone is a song, not a principle. I'm sorry but it's true.